Archives for GIS

What is a “Lunchless Learn”? It’s a hands-on tutorial, held around lunchtime, open to all on campus — without the food.

A GIS, or Geographic Information System, is “a computer system for capturing, storing, checking, integrating, manipulating, analyzing and displaying data relating to positions on earth’s surface.” In other words, it’s a way at looking at the world differently.

This is a series to help give people a taste of what GIS is and how it can be used. To try and accommodate more people we are offering the same session at different times and locations. These sessions are meant to be self contained. After the intro session, take only the topics that are important or of interest you.

Due to the high level of interest in this series, we ask you to sign up for session(s). To sign up, contact gis@dal.ca

The ECCE App Challenge is a coding competition that promotes innovation and creativity within Dalhousie’s GIS Centre, a member of ESRI Canada’s Centres of Excellence. Each year, teams of students at ECCE schools across Canada are tasked to create new and unique apps powered by Esri technology and open data to help address a problem related to a specific theme.

The App Challenge at Dalhousie University will take place between March 18 (noon) and March 25 (noon). Teams will be given one week to complete their apps, and to submit the source code accompanied by supporting documentation, team profiles, and a video sales pitch for their app. These will be assembled and hosted in a GitHub repository used by the ECCE to showcase the apps created by each team.

Challenge rules:

– Maximum three students per team (undergrad or graduate)– Your app must use open data– You app should focus on the theme of smart cities– You may use any platform for development (e.g. Web, iOS, Android)– Your app must include at least one Esri component (e.g., ArcGIS API for Javascript, ArcGIS SDK for iOS), although other additional technologies are encouraged– Your team must produce a sales pitch video explaining what your app does, and why it is valuable– Any source code that you produce for your app must be shared under the GPL 3.0 open source license– Your team must submit a completed app to the ECCE program at the end of the week

How to register:

Get your team together and then contact either James Boxall (james.boxall@dal.ca) or Gwen MacNairn (g.macnairn@Dal.Ca) with the GIS Centre at Dalhousie University. Send the names and email addresses of your team members, and choose/submit a team name.

What can be won?

A cash prize of $1500 (yes, that’s $500/team member) will be awarded to the top ranked Dalhousie team. Dalhousie judges will forward submissions from four of the top Dalhousie teams to ESRI Canada for the national competition. Winners of the national competition will be awarded an all expenses paid trip for all team members to the Esri User Conference in San Diego, California (July 9-13, 2018).

Schedule: runs for one week, from 12 noon on Sunday, March 18 to 12 noon on Sunday, March 25, 2018.

This scholarship is for a high achieving Dalhousie student who has integrated GIS technology into their studies at Dal. The scholarship package will help support a currently enrolled student to continue their studies in GIS and consider GIS as a future career option.

Scholarship package includes:

1) A one-time payment of $500

2) A perpetual license of Esri’s ArcGIS software, for education and research use:

This is a national competition which will be awarded to one Canadian student. If you follow the international guidelines, the same poster and summary report can be submitted to both the Dal GIS Centre (by March 25) and to the Esri Canada Young Scholars Award (by March 29, 2018).

• Must use ArcGIS software• Must be created only by the applicant• Graphics be of sufficient quality for printing (300 dpi)• Portrait orientation (24 inches wide by 36 inches high)• File size should not exceed 10 MB

What is a ‘Lunchless Learn’? It’s a hands-on tutorial, held around lunchtime, open to all on campus — without the food.

A GIS, or Geographic Information System, is “a computer system for capturing, storing, checking, integrating, manipulating, analyzing and displaying data relating to positions on earth’s surface.” In other words, it’s an easy and fun way to look at the world differently.

This is a series to give people a taste of what GIS is and how it can be used. To accommodate more people we are offering the same session at different times and locations. These sessions are meant to be self contained. After the Intro session – take only the topics that are of interest to you.

Due to the high level of interest, we ask you to sign up for session(s). Due to construction on the Sexton Campus, all sessions will be held in Room G70, Killam Library, Studley Campus. To sign up, send an email to gis@dal.ca

Three award opportunities from Esri: GIS Scholarship, GIS Award, and the International Young Scholars Award. Read on to learn how to apply:

ESRI CANADA GIS SCHOLARSHIP GUIDELINES

This scholarship is for a high-achieving Dal student that is using GIS technology for research purposes. The scholarship package will help support a currently enrolled student to continue his or her studies in GIS and consider it as a post-graduation career option.

This award is for a student learning GIS and beginning to incorporate the technology into their studies at Dal. The award will encourage a currently enrolled student to consider incorporating GIS technology into his or her projects for their current program of courses.

*GIS Poster:
 Must use ArcGIS software
 Must be created only by the applicant
 Graphics be of sufficient quality for printing (300 dpi)
 Portrait orientation (24 inches wide by 36 inches high)
 File size should not exceed 10 MB

This is a national competition which will be awarded to one Canadian student. If you follow the international guidelines, the same poster and summary report can be submitted to both the Dal GIS Centre (by Mar 17) and to the Esri Canada Young Scholars Award (by Apr 7, 2017).

Application package must include:

GIS Poster: Must use ArcGIS software
 Must be created only by the applicant
 Graphics be of sufficient quality for printing (300 dpi)
 Portrait orientation (24 inches wide by 36 inches high)
 File size should not exceed 10 MB

Recently, the GIS Centre and other data services at the Dalhousie Libraries were brought together with the goal of supporting a wider variety of teaching, learning, and research activities. In conjunction with the Esri Canada Centre of Excellence (ECCE), GIS & Data Services at the Dal Libraries have launched a newsletter, Layers.

What is a ‘Lunchless Learn’? It’s a hands-on tutorial, held around lunchtime, open to all on campus — without the food.

A GIS, or Geographic Information System, is “a computer system for capturing, storing, checking, integrating, manipulating, analyzing and displaying data relating to positions on earth’s surface.” In other words, it’s an easy and fun way to look at the world differently.

This is a series to help give people a taste of what GIS is and how it can be used. To try and accommodate more people we are offering the same session at different times and locations. These sessions are meant to be self contained. After the Intro session – take only the topics that are of interest to you.

Due to the high level of interest, we ask you to sign up for session(s). To sign up, send an email to gis@dal.ca

*Due to construction at the Sexton Campus, the location may have to change because of lab availability. If this is the case, the class could be at the Killam Library in room G70. If you are signed up for the session, you will receive an email notification if there is a room change, and the listings here will be updated.

Through the Esri Canada GIS Scholarships program, Esri Canada is proud to recognize students at Canadian post-secondary institutions who are involved in projects. The scholarships are provided through schools, Dalhousie being one of 50 schools across the country, that demonstrate strong, multidisciplinary GIS courses and programs. This scholarship provides recipients with great networking opportunities, funding and access to extensive GIS resources including Esri ARCGIS software, books and training to develop their GIS skills and knowledge.

Recently, Dalhousie University and Nova Scotia Community College (NSCC) entered into an agreement with the Environmental Systems Research Institute (Esri) Canada Limited. This agreement, as part of Esri Canada’s new Centres of Higher Education Excellence (ECCE) program, will encourage more sharing of resources in the field of Geographic Information Systems (GIS). GIS helps address many business, socio-economic, and demographic challenges from a spatial context and presents solutions visually using interactive, digital mapping technology.

Esri Canada’s ECCE program involves only seven higher education institutions in Canada. The ECCE program will foster new and innovative uses of GIS in both institutions. Dalhousie and NSCC’s Centre of Geographic Sciences (COGS) & Applied Geomatics Research Group (AGRG) will see several benefits from this agreement including support from Esri for GIS activities and research with in-kind support for training, software, technical support, and scholarships and awards. This program will open up opportunities with a network of post-secondary institutions across the country that educate students in GIS, strengthening existing relationships in a way that will benefit students, faculty, and researchers.

The ECCE program is the next step in Esri Canada’s support of educational institutions across the country and complements their long-term, ongoing support of NSCC-COGS and Dalhousie. The Esri agreement with NSCC and Dalhousie will encourage innovation in GIS research and excellence in teaching in the field. It will help promote GIS education and course options for future students, pool resources to help increase the creation of custom software application development, promote the sharing of information around student availability and employment opportunities, and encourage collaboration with research funding. The agreements are in place for two-year terms.

NSCC-COGS has worked closely with Esri Canada since the company’s inception in the early 1980s. Since 2005, Dalhousie has received an annual scholarship from Esri Canada through the GIS Centre. Esri Canada creates software and tools that allow people to distribute GIS services through the web, desktop, and mobile applications.

Dr. Brent Hall, Director of Education and Research at Esri Canada, says, “We are very pleased to recognize the outstanding contributions of Dalhousie and COGS through their GIS education and spatial data research programs. Bringing the two institutions together through the new ECCE will serve to create a hub in Atlantic Canada that will allow students, researchers, and the regional spatial information technology information industry to continue to thrive.”

“Programs like this offer a chance for greater information and idea sharing which will help to inspire more real-world solutions for our communities and additional resources for our faculty and students,” says Dennis Kingston, Academic Chair for NSCC’s COGS at its Annapolis Valley Campus.

Dalhousie’s provost and vice-president academic, Dr. Carolyn Watters says the university is very pleased to take part in the ECCE program. “The opportunities the agreement opens up will not only benefit our students and faculty but will be instrumental in connecting us more closely with a national network within the GIS sector.”

“The ECCE that includes Dalhousie and NSCC provides further incentive for the institutions to work closer together in the field of GIS,” notes Mike McAllister, computer science faculty member and Dalhousie’s chair of ECCE. “There’s much to be learned from both institutions, in terms of how each is using GIS technology. Dalhousie has elements of spatial scholarship that underlie research and education in many of its faculties, while NSCC, specifically COGS, has been providing its expertise in geospatial work to industry nationally for years. The ECCE will allow us to identify more opportunities for innovation and partnership.”

“This ECCE is a win-win-win scenario for students and faculty at Dal and NSCC and for Esri,” adds Dave MacLean, GIS faculty and chair of ECCE at NSCC-COGS. “It opens up avenues for all involved to share resources locally and work more collaboratively across the board.”

What is a Lunchless Learn? It’s a hands-on tutorial, held around lunchtime, open to all on campus (without the food).

A GIS, or Geographic Information System, is “a computer system for capturing, storing, checking, integrating, manipulating, analyzing and displaying data relating to positions on earth’s surface” In other words, it’s an easy and fun way to look at the world differently.

This series gives people a taste of what GIS is and how it can be used. We are offering the same session at different times and locations, so choose the one that fits your schedule best. These sessions are meant to be self contained; after the intro session–take only the topics that are of interest to you.

The Royal Canadian Geographic Society (RCGS) has announced it is presenting the 2012 Literacy Award to the director of the GISciences Centre, James Boxall.

James Boxall, director of the GISciences Centre, located in the Killam Library.

The award will be given at the RCGS fellows dinner on November 7 in Ottawa. The award includes $5,000; half of which is donated to a charity of choice. James has expressed a desire to create a foundation to support K-12 teachers who wish to train in using geographic information systems (GIS) with their students.

James is the recipient of this award due to his work over the last 25 years to support and enhance geographic and spatial education at all levels. From 1991 to 1993, James was the original proponent in developing the Canadian Council for Geographic Education and has been actively working with not only our own Dalhousie community, in geography and GIS courses and through the development of the GISciences Centre, but also in the K-12 sector with teachers and schools wanting to develop skills in spatial learning.

When asked about the connection of this to Dalhousie and the Dal Libraries, James remarked, “Those who know the history of geography at Dalhousie know that much of the work that happened outside of our community ended up playing a role in moving things along on campus. Also, it makes sense because with the work we do in teaching and research, you simply have to look back at the foundation of the discipline—in 200BCE the chief librarian of the Great Library of Alexandria, Eratosthenes, founded the field of geography, developed latitude and longitude, and accurately measured the circumference of the Earth. We are simply trying to keep up with that tradition of geography librarians enhancing spatial learning.”

Congratulations on this honour James, from everyone at the Dalhousie Libraries.